Ingolstadt, – World debut at gamescom in front of a grand audience: As of today, a simulator sporting the style of the Audi R8 LMS will be available to all visitors in hall 7/PlayStation booth at the world’s leading trade fair for interactive games in Cologne. In the Audi R8 LMS Racing Simulator the players can experience Gran Turismo 5, the top-selling game for the PlayStation 3 by Sony PlayStation in Germany, as if they were in a real-world race car. The presentation was accompanied by racer Christopher Mies, who became the European GT3 champion in the Audi R8 LMS and won the Bathurst 12 Hours in February.

Only the race track could be more authentic: Sony PlayStation and Audi went to great lengths to provide fans with a true motorsport feeling in the new Audi R8 LMS Racing Simulator. quattro GmbH in Neckarsulm did not just convert a production vehicle or a race car but actually purpose-built a simulator vehicle. Visually, it is directly oriented to the Audi R8 LMS. When fans climb into the carbon-black race car with PlayStation graphics, they feel as if they were on the starting grid. They sit in a bucket seat of the kind that is also found in the real GT3 race car. A co-driver can share this unique experience because a second seat shell is installed in the cockpit. A cage that has been simplified compared with the one of the real race car makes it easier for the players to get in and out.

Once the simulator has been started the players will definitely feel like race drivers. The experience begins with the instruments as all relevant game data is shown on the original racing display. The authentic race steering wheel is connected to the PlayStation-3 system as well. When the driver turns the wheel the impulses are transmitted by steering angle sensors in real time. The paddle shifters in the steering wheel also address the microprocessor and issue shifting commands to the computer. The same applies to the pedals. Acoustically, the game has a highly authentic effect due to a sophisticated Dolby Surround system that transmits the sounds of the game into the cockpit. The vehicle dynamics effects are the main highlight though as the Audi R8 LMS by no means statically rests on its wheels. Instead of the standard springs and dampers the suspensions are controlled by pneumatic cylinders, allowing body movements of up to 150 millimeters to be simulated. The physics of driving are felt in the cockpit and the player has the feeling of actually driving a race. He or she feels all the centrifugal forces while cornering, braking and accelerating.

“We built up the base vehicle for the simulator within six weeks,” explains Jürgen Zürn, Head of Test and Production of quattro GmbH. “For many fans, playing a game that is as advanced as Gran Turismo 5 in our race car will no doubt be a unique experience.”

With a track record of almost 100 victories the Audi R8 LMS is one of the most successful GT3 sports cars. Gran Turismo 5 is the top-selling PS3TM game by Sony PlayStation in Germany. Over half a million Gran Turismo 5 games were sold within three months. For this large fan community, the Audi R8 LMS Racing Simulator that will be featured at many public events is now making a dream come true. The predecessor model based on the Abt-Audi TT-R was deployed about 60 times per year between 2005 and 2009. These events resulted in 15,000 simulation drives and more than a million people having the opportunity to see the simulator.